Grain sampling device

ABSTRACT

The invention comprises a grain sampling device having an upper and lower unit, with the upper unit sampling grain from a main stream of grain and transmitting it downward to a lower unit, said lower unit further subdividing the grain sample, and depositing the subdivided material equally into two receptacles. A motor is provided for operating said upper and lower units and cam means actuated by said motor to activate said upper and lower units. This invention relates to sampling devices, more particularly, the invention relates to sampling of finely divided materials.

United States Patent Filed Inventor Appl.

Patented Not Frank J. Jirik RR. #2. Fisher. Minn. 56723 799350 Feb. 14, 1969 June 29, 1971 GRAIN SAMPLING DEVICE 1 Claim, 10 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl Int. Cl Field of Search References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/1879 Douglas 9/1927 Gray et a1. I 7/1945 Pizzirani et a1.

Smithson FOREIGN PATENTS 1,063,214 6/1952 France 707,875 4/1954 GreatBritain .1

Primary Examiner- Louis R. Prince Assistant Examiner-- Daniel M. Yasich Attorney-Robert E. Kleve ABSTRAQCT: The invention comprises a grain sampling device having an upper and lower unit, with the upper unit sampling grain from a main stream of grain and transmitting it downward to a lower unit, said lower unit further subdividing the grain sample, and depositing the subdivided material equally into two receptacles. A motor is provided for operating said upperand lower units and cam means actuated by said motor to activate said upper and lower units. 1

This invention relates to sampling devices, more particularly, the invention relates to sampling of finely divided materials.

PATENTEDJUNZBIQYI 3589 198 sum 1 0F 3 4 INVENTOR Frank J. Jirik FIG.I.

BY Qwm ATTORNFY PATENfEuJuuzsmn 35 919 SHEET 3 BF 3 INVENTOR Frank J. J6 M k BY QM. Mm.

ATTORNEY GRAIN SAMPLING DEVICE It is an object of the'invention to provide a novel grain sampling device which sample and subdivide the sample automatically and accurate.

It is another object of the invention to provide a novel cam operated sampling device which will accurately sample finely divided materials.

It is a further object of the invention to provide novel automatic grain sampling device which will sample the grain and subdivide the grain sample at least twice.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds and when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein;

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the grain sampling invention.

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the lower grain subdividing and power control unit taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the lower grain subdividing and power control unit, similar to FIG. 2 with front portions of the unit broken away to reveal the interior construction.

FIG. 4 is a rear elevational view of the lower grain subdividing and power control unit taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a side cross-sectional view of the lower unit taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary side cross-sectional view taken along line 6 6 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a top-plan view of the lower unit taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 1, with portions broken away to reveal the interior construction.

FIG. 8 is a front elevational view of the upper sampling and subdividing unit.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the upper unit taken along line 9-9 of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken along line l0-10 of FIG. 9.

Briefly stated, the invention comprises a grain sampling device having an upper and lower unit, said upper unit comprising a pivotally mounted funnel means oscillating through a main stream of grain and receiving and dividing samples therefrom of the grain at regular intervals and transmitting the sample to said lower unit, said lower unit having a pivotally mounted channel means oscillating through said divided sampie to subdivide the initial sample into two smaller samples.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, in FIG. 1, the grain sampling invention is illustrated having an upper sampling unit 21, and a lower secondary subdividing and power plant unit 22.

The upper sampling unit 21 is mounted in a conventional grain bin or scale hopper 23, which grain bin 23 is located in a conventional grain elevator and is positioned below a grain chute 24 to receive the grain with the main body of the grain traveling out of the grain chute 24 into the bin 23 and out of the outlet opening 25 in the grain bin, where the main body of grain travels on into a main grain conduit (not shown). The upper sampling unit 21 has a pair of triangular funnels 26 and 27 mounted one above the other, with the lower funnel 27 fixed to a collar 28, which collar 28 is properly mounted to one side 23 of the grain bin in a sleeve or conduit 29 so as to rotate about the axis of the sleeve 29.

The funnels 26 and 27 oscillate back and forth beneath the grain chute 24, with a sample of the grain being received into the funnel 26 each time it passes through the stream of grain traveling out of the grain chute. The grain received in the upper funnel 26 travels into the lower funnel 27, whereupon it travels down the hollow neck 22 in the lower funnel into the hollow interior 28' of the collar 28 which deflects the grain received from the hollow neck 27' into the conduit 29, where it travels down the vertical portion of the conduit 29 into the bin 30 in the lower subdividing and power plan unit 22.

The lower subdividing and power plan unit 27 receives the grain from the conduit 29 in the bin 30. The bin 30 has a mounted metal flap or plate 31 which pivots up against the bottom end 29' of the conduit 29 to close the conduit 29 until a sufficient quantity of grain has stored therein for sampling and rotating cam 32 has a notch 32' therein which receives an arm 31" once every revolution and when the arm drops down into the notch 32' it pivots the plate 31 downward about the horizontal arm of shaft 31" opening the conduit 29 allowing the grain in the sleeve to drop into the bin and travel out the opening 30 in the bin.

A secondary subdividing mechanism is mounted in the lower unit 22 and has an arm 33 which is pivotally mounted to wall 67. A pair of reversable positioned channel members 34 and 35, are fixed to the lower end 33 of the arm, and below the opening 30' in bin 30 and the channel members 34 and 35 receive grain coming out of the bin .30 through the opening 30', with channel member 34 diverting a sample of the grain into the receiving chute 36 and channel member 35 directing a generally equal sample of the grain into receiving chute 37. Sample bags will be mounted over the lower ends 36' and 37 respectively of the receiving chutes 3 6 and 37 to receive the grain diverted into the receiving chutes 36 and 37, and thereby provide a fair sample of the grain. The grain not diverted by channel members 34 and 35 travels straight down from the opening 30' into a center receiving chute 38, which chute 38 has a conduit 39 which feeds the grain back to the main grain conduit (previously referred to and not shown) opening 29 and in the grain bin. UPPER SAMPLING UNIT, ITS STRUCTURE AND OPERATION.

The structure and operation of the upper sampling unit 21, in more detail, has its upper funnel 26 adjustable relative to the lower funnel 27. The lower funnel has a plurality of holes 41 equally spaced for one another. The pair of bolts 40 pass through a pair of the holes 41 in the upper end of funnel 27 and into a pair of corresponding holes in the lower end 42 of the neck 26 of the funnel 26 thereby hold and lock the upper funnel. The pair of bolts 40 may be removed and the upper funnel 26 may be shifted horizontally to the left when viewed from FIG. 8, and the holes aligned in the lower end 42 of the neck with another pair of holes 41 in the upper end of the fun nel 27 and the bolts 40 reinserted into the aligned holes. This adjustment of the upper funnel relative to the lower funnel is provided to accommodate the various types of grain bins and chutes.

LOWER SAMPLING AND POWER PLANT UNIT, STRUCTURE AND POSITION The lower sampling or diverter and power plant unit 22 has a rectangular frame 61, with four legs 62 for supporting the frame. Within the framework 61, is a motor 64 which is mounted to the underside of a ledge 65, which ledge 65 is fixed to the frame 61. The ledge is mounted to walls 66 and 67 and the walls 66 and 67 are attached to the frame 61.

The motor 64 has a pulley 68 fixed coaxially to the motor shaft 64. A pulley belt 69 extends around the pulley 68 and upward around the pulley 70 to drive the pulley 70. The pulley 70 is fixed coaxially to the input shaft 71 of a conventional gear or drive reduction mechanism 72 to drive the reduction mechanism 72. The drive reduction 72 has an output shaft 73 with its end extending laterally from the input shaft outward from the opposite sides of the drive reduction to form output shaft portion 73' on one side and out put shaft portion 73" on the other side. The output shaft 73 transmits a drive at a reduced rate with respect to the drive input of input shaft in a conventional manner.

A toothed gear 74 is fixed to the output shaft portion 73' and the shaft portion 73' transmits the drive received from the input shaft to the toothed gear 74 which in turn drives the endless link chain 75, which in turn drives a toothed gear 76. The toothed gear 75 is fixed coaxially to a shaft 77 and drives the shaft 77. The shaft 77 is rotatably mounted to the plate 66 and 67 ofthe framework 61.

The shaft 77 has a toothed gear 78 fixed coaxially thereto and thereby drives the gear 78. The gear 78 in turn drives the endless link chain 79 which in turn drives a toothed gear 80. The toothed gear 80 is fixed to the shaft 81 and thereby drives the shaft 81, and the shaft 81 is rotatably mounted to walls 66 and 67. The shaft 81 in turn drives a cam 32 fixed thereto.

The cam 32 has a notch 32' which receives an arm 31" once each revolution of the cam, thereby allowing the arm to pivot downward and about the axis of the shaft 31". The arm 31" is fixed to shaft 31"and thereby rotates the shaft 31", and therotation of shaft 31" pivots the plate 31 downward away from the bottom open end 29 of the chute 29 thereby opening the chute 29 momentarily and allowing the grain in the chute 29 to travel into the bin 30, and the rearward edge 32" of the cam 32 engages the arm, pivots the arm upward to a horizontal position and pivots the plate 31 back up to a horizontal position closing the bottom end 29" of the chute shortly after opening the bottom end, and does not reopen the cute until the cam has made another revolution and the arm again drops into the notch 32 and the opening of chute 29 at regular intervals allows grain to drop into the bin 30 at regular intervals for secondary subdividing.

The other output shaft portion 73" of the drive reducing device 72 has a cam 83 fixed to the shaft 73" and rotates therewith and the cam 83 in rotating engages the roller 84,

which roller 84 is mounted to one leg 85' of the arm 85. The arm 85 is pivotally mounted centrally to plate 67 at pivot point 100. A linkage plate 86 is pivotally connected at one end 87 to the other end 85" of the arm 85. The other end of the linkage plate 86 is pivotally connected to arm 33 at pivot point 88. The arm 33 also has a spring 89 hooked at one end 89 to the plate 67 and at the other end 89 to plate 86.

When the cam 83 rotates counterclockwise when viewed from FIG. 4, the raised edge portion 83' of the cam engages roller 84 and pivots the arm 85 clockwise when viewed from FIG. 4 which moves the linkage plate 86, which in turn pivots the arm 33 to the left when viewed from FIG. 4 from right position shown in phantom lines in FIG. 4 and designated by numeral 101 to its left position shown in phantom lines in FIG. 4 and designated by numeral 102.

The moving of the arm 33 from its left position designated by numeral 101 to its right position designated by numeral 102 passes the channel members 34 and 35 beneath the opening 30 in the bin 30 (as illustrated in solid lines in FIG. 4) and the channel members 34 and 35 as they pass beneath the opening 30 receive some of he grain coming out of the opening 30' with channel member 34 diverting a sample of this grain into receiving funnel 36, and channel member 35 directing a generally equal sample of this grain into funnel 37 where it travels down the funnels 36 and 37 into sample bags.

After the raised edge portion 83 of cam 83 engages the roller 84' pivoting the arm 33 and channels members from their right to their left position, the continuous raised portion 83" maintains the roller 84 in this position and thereby maintains the arm 33 in the left position for approximately one-half the cycle of cam 83.

When the lowering edge portion 83" of the cam reaches the roller 84, the spring 89 causes the arm 33 to return to its right position designated by numeral 101 by the roller following the contour of the edge position 83' under the weight of the ,spring. This movement of the arm 33 back to its right position bynumeral 101, for approximately another one-half of the cycle of the cam 83, until the raised edge portion 83 is again reached moving the arm back to its left position again. Thus, the cam 83 causes the channel members 34 and 35 to pass beneath opening 30 in the bin 30 once every half-revolution of the cam 83, thereby causing a sample of grain coming from bin 30 to be diverted into funnels 36 and 37 twice each revolution.

At the same time cam 83 is operating to divert samples of grain from bin 30 into receiving funnels 36 and 37, at regular intervals, cam which operates the reciprocating upper funnels 27 and 28 is operating. The cam.90 is fixed to shaft 77.

The rotation of shaft 77 rotates cam 90 clockwise when viewed from FIG. 2 and when its raised edge portion 90' engages roller 91 of arm 92, it pivots arm 92 downward from its position shown in solid lines in FIG. 2 about the axis of its pivot point 93, arm 92 being pivotally mounted to wall 66 to pivot point 93.

The pivoting of arm 92 moves linkage plate 94 downward, linkage plate 94 being pivotally connected to arm 92 at pivot point 95. Linkage plate 94 is pivotally connected at its upper end to arm 96 at pivot point 95 and arm 96 is pivotally mounted to shaft 81 whereby the movement of linkage plate 94 downward pivots arm 96 downward from its position shown in solid lines in FIG. 2.

The pivoting of arm 96 downward pulls rope 52, attached to its outer end downward and the movement of rope 52 downward pivots the funnels 26 and 27, from the left position illustrated in phantom lines in FIG. 8 and designated by nu meral 104 to their right position illustrated in phantom lines and designated by numeral 105 and pulls the weight 56 upward from its position shown in FIG. 8, thus passing the funnels 26 and 27 beneath the chute 24, and with the upper funnel 26 receiving a sample of grain coming from chute 24 as it passes through, which grain gravitates down from the upper funnel 26 down through the lower funnel 27 and into the conduit 29 where it is stored until released by the plate 31, in response to cam 32.

The funnel 26 and 27 will remain in the right position illustrated in phantom lines in FIG. 8 and designated by numeral 105, so long as the raised portion of the cam is riding on the roller 91 and when the reduced edge portion 90" of cam 90 reaches and engages the roller 91, the weight 56 pulls the funnels 26 and 27 past the chute 24 and back to their position 104, with the rope 52 also raising the arm 96 upward which raises above its position shown in solid lines in FIG. 2, which raises the linkage plate 94, which raises the arm 92 upward past its position shown in solid lines in FIG. 2, with the roller 92 following the contour of the reduced edge portion 90" moving upward and engaging the reduced surface 90"" of the cam in corresponding relation. The funnels 26 and 27 will remain in their left position designated by numeral 104, so long as the roller is riding on the lowered surface portion 90" which is for approximately the other half of the cycle of cam 90.

The cam 90 thus acts to pass the funnels 26 and 27 beneath the cute 24, twice for each revolution of cam 90, to divert grain from the chute 24 for sampling. The funnels 26 and 27 are shown in their middle position beneath the chute 24 in dashed line in FIG. 8 and designated by numeral 106.

The movement of the funnel 26 and 27 back and forth beneath the grain chute 24 continuous so long as the motor 64 is operating, thereby diverting samples of grain into conduit 29 at regular intervals.

While the funnels 26 and 27 divert a sample grain out of the main body of grain coming out of the chute 24, the main body grain which is the grain that has not been diverted) continues to fall into the bin 23 and out the opening 25 in the bottom where it travels into a main conduit (not shown). The grain which drops into the bin 30 and out the opening 30' and which is not diverted by channel members 34 and 35, drops into the center funnel 38 between funnels 36 and 37 where it is fed by gravity through and converted back to the main body of grain, thus returning it to the main body of grain.

The upper edges 108 of both walls 38 and 38" and 107" of the center funnel and the upper edges 109 of the inside walls 36 and 37 of the outside funnels 36 and 37 are at a lower height than the upper edges 110 of the outside walls 36" and 37" of the outside funnels, to allow the channel members 34 and 35 to swing on the arm 33 freely within the general confines of the outside walls 36" and 37" throughout most of the travel of the channel members to assure that the grain traveling or deflected out along the channel members 34 and 35 will be received within the funnels 36 and 37.

Thus it will be seen that a novel automatic cam operated grain sampler is provided which has an upper funnel 26 passing back and forth through the main stream of grain and powered by cam 90 and taking the initial sample of grain and which has a pair of channel members operated by cam 83 which by passing back and forth through the initial sample grain further subdivides this sample into small and equal samples of grain which constitutes the final samples.

It will be obvious that various changes and departures may be made to the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and accordingly it is not intended that the invention be limited to that specifically described in the drawings but only as set forth in the appended claims wherein What l claim is:

l. A granular sampling device comprising an upper and lower unit, said upper unit having an upper bin, said lowerunit having a lower bin, a main chute above said upper bin adapted to feed grain down out of said chute into the upper bin, a reciprocating funnel mounted within said upper bin and adapted to pivot back and forth within the upper bin and pass beneath said chute, said funnel having a conduit at its lower end extending downward to said lower bin of said lower unit, said reciprocating funnel acting to divert a sample of the grain from the chute into the conduit to travel down to the lower bin, releasing means in said lower bin to selectively release said sample received from said conduit out of the bottom of the lower bin, a reciprocating pair of reversably positioned channel members adapted to swing beneath said lower bin, a pair of receiving chutes beneath said pair of channel members, said pair of channel members swinging beneath said lower bin to divert a pair of sub samples of grain into said pair of receiving chutes from said sample of grain released out of the bottom of said lower bin, a first cam means to operate and power said releasing means, a second cam means to operate and power said upper reciprocating funnel and said reciprocating channel members, motor means powering said first and second cam means. 

1. A granular sampling device comprising an upper and lower unit, said upper unit having an upper bin, said lower unit having a lower bin, a main chute above said upper bin adapted to feed grain down out of said chute into the upper bin, a reciprocating funnel mounted within said upper bin and adapted to pivot back and forth within the upper bin and pass beneath said chute, said funnel having a conduit at its lower end extending downward to said lower bin of said lower unit, said reciprocating funnel acting to divert a sample of the grain from the chute into the conduit to travel down to the lower bin, releasing means in said lower bin to selectively release said sample received from said conduit out of the bottom of the lower bin, a reciprocating pair of reversably positioned channel members adapted to swing beneath said lower bin, a pair of receiving chutes beneath said pair of channel members, said pair of channel members swinging beneath said lower bin to divert a pair of sub samples of grain into said pair of receiving chutes from said sample of grain released out of the bottom of said lower bin, a first cam means to operate and power said releasing means, a second cam means to operate and power said upper reciProcating funnel and said reciprocating channel members, motor means powering said first and second cam means. 